What An Idiot / Assassin's Creed

• Assassin's Creed:
  • Altaïr is on a mission to retrieve a magical artifact for the Assassins. While on his way, he sees Robert de Sable, head of the Templar Order, the enemies of the Assassins, and decides to take him out, despite it not being within the parameters of the mission.
    You'd Expect: Altaïr to wait for the opportune moment, and then simply do a jumping assassination on de Sable, therefore taking him out before he has enough time to react.
    Instead: He announces his presence to de Sable, before walking up and trying to stab him. As a result of his actions, not only does he fail, but one of the Assassins who came with him is killed, and the other one ends up losing one of his arms.
  • Altaïr has another one shortly after, along with Malik, the Assassin who lost his arm. They're both trying to get back to Masyaf, the Assassin HQ.
    You'd Expect: The two of them to take sufficient measures to ensure that the Templars don't follow them back to Masyaf.
    Instead: It doesn't appear that they did, considering that the fortress ends up beseiged by Templar forces.
• Assassin's Creed III:
  • Daniel Cross has Desmond held at gunpoint after catching him breaking into a skyscraper.
    You'd Expect: Cross to stay out of Desmond's reach.
    Instead: He walks up to Desmond, who quickly gets control of his gun and knocks him out.
  • Templar William Johnson is trying to buy Native American lands so that he and the Templars can protect them from the colonists' expansion. Unfortunately for him, the Native American leaders are refusing to sell.
    You'd Expect: Johnson to just tell the leaders that he intends to keep their lands safe, and that as the colonies get more populated and need more space, relations between them and the natives will deteriorate to the point they'll be willing to go to war.
    Instead: He has his mooks point guns at the leaders, to try forcing them to sell, and only tells the truth to Connor, as he's dying from the Assassin's blade.
  • Sequence 8 largely ends up happening because of Connor's stupidity. He's in New York, trying to assassinate Thomas Hickey, who's trying to assassinate George Washington. After chasing him through the streets, and getting accused of being a member of his counterfeiting operation, Connor has him pinned up against a wall.
    You'd Expect: Connor to just kill him, particularly after what happened the last time he let one of the Templars live. Or, if he wants to find a solution that doesn't involve murder, just knock him out and leave him to be arrested. After that he runs from the militia, and works on clearing his name from there. You wouldn't expect this to be hard for him, just bribe some town criers and printing press owners, like he did at the Boston Massacre.
    Instead: He just explains his motivations to Hickey, and when accused of counterfeiting, tries to argue his case then and there, even when it's clear the militia won't listen. Things go From Bad to Worse for Connor; first he's thrown in prison, and later framed for trying to kill Washington by the Templars.
  • Haytham has been trying to get Connor to join him and the Templars since they first met. Problem is, other than their differing ideologies, Connor believes that one of Haytham's subordinates burned down his village, killing his mother in the process (It was actually George Washington who was responsible). Haytham knows who's truly responsible.
    You'd expect: Haytham to tell Connor this information as soon as he found out.
    Instead: He only tells Connor when he's found out that Washington intends to have it destroyed again. As a result, Connor believes that Haytham was using this information to manipulate him, and breaks off all contact with him. The next time they meet, it ends in tragedy.
  • Haytham has managed to knock Connor to the ground after their fight.
    You'd Expect: Haytham, knowing that Connor has Hidden Blades, would break Connor's arms first to prevent him using them.
    Instead: Haytham just tries to strangle Connor. Connor is able to bring up a Hidden Blade and fatally stab Haytham.
  • Near the end of the game, the Colonial Templars have been reduced to the leader Charles Lee and a few thugs. Connor is still hunting him down.
    You'd Expect: Lee to stay armed, and with bodyguards at all times.
    Instead: He doesn't, and ditches said bodyguards as soon as he sees Connor, and subsequently misses a golden opportunity to kill Connor, who ultimately kills him soon after.
  • Both occasions Connor is chasing a Templar through a city.
    You'd Expect: That he'd just focus on catching the Templar in question.
    Instead: He went out of his way to avoid shoving people aside during the chase, if the secondary objectives of those missions are to be believed. That's the same as dusting your wardrobe while your house is on fire.
• Assassin's Creed Rogue:
  • Early on, a distraught Shay Cormac returns to Mentor Achilles Davenport from a mission to retrieve a supposed Piece of Eden, having unintentionally caused an earthquake to destroy the city of Lisbon during his search. Shay claims that there was no Piece of Eden for him to find, and points out that this has happened before; when an Assassin was sent to Haiti to explore a First Civilization site, an earthquake destroyed Port-au-Prince soon after he arrived.
    You'd Expect: Achilles to tell Shay not to blame himself for what happened, and assure him that they will stop messing with the First Civilization, having figured out that when they do, the place they search will "coincidentally" get hit by a huge earthquake.
    Instead: Achilles insists on continuing to search for Pieces of Eden, and lets Shay get dragged out of his office kicking and screaming. Shay subsequently defects to the Templars in order to stop the Assassins doing any more harm in their search for First Civilization artifacts, and becomes instrumental in wiping out the Colonial Assassins.
  • Not that Shay himself is blameless.
    You'd Expect: Given the travel time between Lisbon and New York, it would be weeks or months between the earthquake and Shay's return, giving him plenty of time to consider his response to what happened, and at least start calmly and explain what had happened when he returned to Achilles, how it was tampering with the First Civilization artifact that caused the earthquake.
    Instead: Shay barges into Achilles office, raging at how he must have known what would happen, made Shay a mass murderer, and effectively foaming at the mouth as he demands Achilles take responsibility for the deaths of all those people, explaining none of the circumstances.
    In Addition: Shay's response to this is to not explain to any of his fellows what happened, so not giving them any opportunity to smooth things over and explain things, and to proceed to STEAL (not destroy) the book that gave the location of the artifact from Achilles office.
  • Years after Shay's defection, Hope foils an attempt by him to sneak into her mansion and assassinate her. Shay is now lying at her feet, winded.
    You'd Expect: Hope to either stab Shay with her hidden blades (which are supposed to be standard issue for the Assassins), choke him out, break his neck, or do something that would cause his immediate death while she has the chance.
    Instead: Hope takes away Shay's gas mask, fills the room full of poisonous gas, and runs off, leaving him to die. Shay promptly escapes, and ultimately kills her.
• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
  • The Cult of Kosmos wants The Wolf of Sparta killed. They also want to have the misthios, Kassandra/Alexios, killed thanks to their bloodline.
    You'd Expect: The Cult to kill the misthios and pay someone else to go after the target.
    Instead: Cult member Elpenor convinces the other members that not only should the heir live, but that they should be hired to kill the target. This takes a turn for the worse when the misthios learns that The Wolf of Sparta is Nikolaus, their father, and thus can spare them if the player chooses to do so. The act of deception also not only results in the misthios killing Elpenor, but the entire Cult of Kosmos as an act of revenge.